Walther flach



Oct. 25, 1932. w. FLACH 1,883,892

COMBINED TYPEWRITING AND COMPUTING MACHINE Filed July 7, 1926 lIIIIII INVENTOR BY @J; a @m.

ATTORN EY Patented Oct. 25, 1932 1 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE WALTHER FLACH, OF FRANKFORT-ONTHE-MAIN, GERMANY, ASSIGNOR T0 REMINGTON 'IYIPEWRITER COMPANY, OF ILION, NEW YORK, A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK COMBINED TYPEWBITING AND COMPUTING MACHINE Application filed. July 7, 1926, Serial No.

My invention relates to combined typewriting and computing machines in which the numbers written one'after the other in diiferent columns of a single line are registered in a so-called crossfooting totalizer, which is alternately coupled with a plurality of vertical totalizers registering the numbers written in the different columns and which cross totalizer must be cleared at the end of each line. The invention especially concerns a clearance proof mechanism for the crossfooting totalizer, the same including a lock for the computing mechanism. Whereas up to now in machines of this character, the automatic locking of the mechanism could be released at will by the operator, the invention includes devices acting in such a manner that a lock release can only be performed when the result has been duly corrected. According to my present invention I use a special auxiliary sign in connection with the locking devices which I call a clearance sign and which may consist for instance of a star which is printed immediately after the copying of the total from the cross footer to indicate that the total was correctly copied. The so-called proof of clearance key acting to print this special sign is also locked in case the cross-footer is not clear, and if the clearance sign is printed upon the paper this gives an assurance of the correctness of the copy ing. It is impossible to use the machine for computing Work as long as the keys for the clearance sign and the figures are not automatically unlocked by clearing the crossfooter, no other means being provided for. unlocking the machine.

For achieving the purpose of my present invention I give to that vertical totalizer which defines the column in which the balance is written and in which the cross totalizer should be cleared, a construction different in some points from the usual one, and I cause said totalizer to co-act with certain special devices. After the last gear of the totalizer I provide a gap, the width of which corresponds to one feed step of the carriage of the typewriting machine, but I retain the usual pick-up ing for the jumping cross footer in the usualposition with respect to the gears,

121,021, and in Germany July 20, 1925.

so that said lug is located one letter space to the left of the right side of, the totalizer. The usual cam acting upon a locking device in case the cross footer is not connected with a totalizer is reduced to one single tooth lying in view of a part of the machine with parts broken away and omitted.

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the last vertical totalizer with a device for actuating the locking latch.

Figs. 3. and- 4 are detailed views of the special locking device used in cooperation with the present invention and its cooperating parts in side view and plan view.

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the underside of the last vertical totalizer.

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary side elevation of the lower front part of the totalizer.

In the usual type-writing and computing machines a plurality of vertical totalizers are adjustably arranged upon a truck which travels With the carriage of the typewriting machine. These totalizers are brought one after the other into the computing zone by means of tabulator keys and are actuated in these zones in accordance with the pressing of the number keys, such as 32 (only one of the ten keys has been shown).

Fig. 1 shows the last two vertical totalizers 2 and 3. It is understood that any number of totalizers exactly identical with the totalizer 2 can be used; the last totalizer 3, however. has some special arrangements, which will be described later on. Besides. the machine has a cross footer 40, which is in the well known manner coupled by means of a bar 39 to either one of the totalizers 2 or 3 as the latter enters the computing zone and which is moved together with the said vertical totalizer from the right to the left and is released as soon as the vertical totalizer leaves the computing zone, whereupon it is coupled with the next following one. The vertical totalizers are provided for this purpose with a special stop or nose, as 7 in Fig. 5, acted upon by a hook of the bar 39.

If the cross footer is coupled with the last totalizer 3 having the purpose of summing up the cross balance of the numbers written in one horizontal line of the paper, then the operator has to copy the number, which is shown by the cross footer 40. A cam 3 at the front side of the totalizer 3 acts at that time upon a roller (not shown) jcur-naled to an arm which is fast on arock shaft 10 mounted in the machine frame and adjusts by this operation the master wheel of the cross footer in a well known manner to subtraction, so that in copying the total shown on the cross footer 10 said total is added on the totalizer 3 in the ordinary way, whereas the cross footer'is returned to zero. If the number is not correctly copied, then locking means act. a

In the usual manner the last Vertical totalizer has a horizontal arm 4 having a tooth or nose 5 and cooperating with a dog at the end of a bell crank 21 which is connected to a push wire 22. The function of these well known parts will be referred to later on.

As distinguished from the usual vertical totalizers 2, the totalizer 3 is enlarged at the right side about the width of one feed step of the machine carriage in such a maner that a gap 6 is formed between the right side plate of the totalizer and the last tooth gear of thetotalizer. In order that the stop or nose 7 cooperating with the bar 39 of the cross footer 40 may remain in the usual position with respect to the last tooth gear 50, the nose 7 is offset to the extent of one feed step to the left from the right side plate.

The usual totalizers, such as 2. are each provided with a straight cam not shown) which cooperates with a roller 1.1on an arm 12 and presses said roller downward for the .whole time in which the totalizer in question is in the computing zone. and by this known arrangement'cooperating with other known devices the computing mechanism is locked if by any cause the crossfooter is not connected to the totalizer in question. As distinguished from the ordinary totalizers the totalizer 3 has the bar 8 which usually depresses the roller 11 cut away having at its right hand end only a short cam 8 acting upon the said roller 11 and lever 12 to the ri ht. The arm 15 is connected,

to a locking plate 19 by a link 16havinga pin 17, which engages a slot 18 in the said plate 19. This plate normally hangs downward and at an inclination to the left where its lower end is at the left of an arm 31 fast on the universal rock shaft 30. When the roller 11 is depressed, said plate is swung into the vertical position shown in Fig. 1. The plate 19 depends from a bell crank 20 which is pivoted on a fixed'pin 13, and which is connected by a link 29 with an arm 28 pivotally supported by the side plate 27 of the machine frame. The arm 28 is pressed leftward by the usual spring and it may be swungtoward the right by a bar 40 fixed to the cross footer truck, and also by a bell crank lever 26. If the cross footer is in its farthest right position, then the bar 40 presses the arm 28 against the wall 27 and swings the crank lever 20 in a counter clockwise direction, so that the plate 19 is lowered. During this motion the pin 1'? slides in the slot 18. If this motion is performed at a moment when the roller 11 is lowered by means of a cam, such as 8, on one of the totalizers, the computing mechanism is locked. The special locking means are referred to later on.

The second lever 26 acting upon the arm 28 is made dependent on the push wire 22 referred to above and, besides, on the condition of the cross footer 40 as will now be described.

At the same moment in which the totalizer 3 reaches a position in which the cam 8 cooperates with the roller 11, the nose 5 acts upon the dog of the bell-crank 21 and pushes the wire 22 rightward. By this movement the latch 23 pivotally supported at23 is swung in a clockwise direction. Thelatch 23 has a horizontal arm which is notched or stepped at 23 and the step cooperates with a lug 26 of the three armed lever 26 which is pivotally supported by the pin 24. In the usual arrangement of the Remington machines, this lever 26 comprises a push knob 25 coming outwards through the wall 27 as shown in dotted lines in Fig.1. If it is preferred to retain this knob, then it will be covered together with the other cooperating parts of the locking lever train described in the specification by a special casing, such as shown by the broken lines 12, so that in the ordinary use of the machine, the operator cannot operate the knob and its connected parts.

' lVhen the latch 23 is shifted by the push wire, then a spring 26a tends to rotate the lever 26 in a counter clockwise direction and to take the arm 28 with it until it comes in contact with the wall 27.

By this swinging movement of the lever 28 the plate 19 at the left end of the crank lever 20 is lowered as described above. If the plate 19 is lowered in this manner and, besides, swung in counter clockwise direction by the lever 12, 15, then its stepped lower edge 19a comes into the way of an arm 31 fixed to a shaft 30. This shaft 30 is swung in the usual manner each time a number key 32 (only the key for the figure 9 has been shown in the drawing) is pressed. If at such a moment the edge 19a has been lowered and swung, then it locks the number keys by preventing a swinging movement of the arm 31 and the shaft 30.

The t-otalizer 3 acts upon the push wire 22 and the cam 8 acts upon the roller 11 at that moment in which the cross footer 40 must be cleared or returned to zero if the machine has been correctly used. In the known Remington machines at the moment of actuating the key for the last figure of the balance, the cross footer is freed and jumps rightwards into the position of rest. If the balance shown by the cross footer has been copied correctly, then a finger 32 at the upperside of the totalizer 40 is, in a well known manner, directed rearwardly. By the jumping movement of the cross footer frame this finger is then carried against the cam consisting of the inclined end of the bar 34 which is fixed to the lever 26 and rotates said lever in a clockwise direction, so that it is again caught by the end 23" of the latch 23.

, If the cross footer was not clear then the finger 32 is not directed rearwardly and does not cooperate with the cam 34 and the lever 26sta-ys in its locking position.

The proof of clearance key 1 is connected to the locking shaft 30 in the same manner as that one of the number keys 32 which prints the that is to say, it operates the uni versal rock shaft 30, but does not turn the master wheels; and by the pressing of this key in case of an operation of the machine a star is printed immediately after the last figure of the balance. To make the pressing of the proof of clearance key possible if the cross footer has been cleared it must be prevented that after the release of the cross footer the shaft is locked directly by the action of the arm 28. This is performed by a cam 9 which I have added to the right hand part of the totalizer 3 and which cam cooperates with a special roller 14 as shown in detail in Figs. 3 and 4, said roller being journaled at the end of an arm 35 rigidly connected to a sleeve 36, which is rotatably supported by the same pivot 10 that carries the crank lever 12, 15. A second arm 37 is rFgidly connected to the. said sleeve 36 and is provided with a hook bar 38. The earn 9 cooperating with the roller 14 is extended across the gap 6 of the totalizer 3 and by the cooperation with the earn 9 the hook 38 is raised. At the moment in which the totalizer 3 comes into this position, the bar 39 is in the usual manner released from the nose 7, but the hook 38 catches at this moment a stop 41 of the bar 39 and prevents the totalizer from returning to the position of rest; it is stopped in such a position that the bar 40 is just clear of the arm 28- Therefore, at this moment the arm 28 is only dependent on the position of the lever 26, and, therefore, on the position of the finger 32 of the cross footer. If the cross footer was duly cleared, then the finger 32 has come into cooperation with the cam 34, the shaft 32 is unlocked and the clearance sign can be written by pressing the key 1. If, on the other hand, the cross footer was not clear, then the locking brought about by the push wire 22 and the shifting of the bar 16 is maintained. In the first case the pressing of the clearance key will cause the carriage to take another step leftward and the cam 9 will pass the roller 14, so that the latter may be returned to its normal position under the influence of a returning spring. The book '38 will then be lowered and the cross footer can fully return to its position of rest. In the second case, the locking must be released by a return of the carriage with the totalizers to the right in such a manner that the totalizer 3 is again brought into the computing zone and in this position the clearing of the cross footer must now be performed as the locking devices cannot be released by pressing the knob 25 as in Zhe known machines on account of the cover As soon as the carriage is brought to a position in which the cam 8 does not cooperate with the roller 11, the link 16 is shifted to the left and the plate 19 is returned to its normal position by rotation in the clockwise direction. Therefore, the locking of the shaft 30 is removed as long as the number wheels of the totalizer 3 are in the computing zone. Therefore, in this position an actuation of the number keys 32 for clearing the cross footer is possible and when this has been correctly done, then, as described above, the printing of the clearance sign will be possible as soon as the gap of the totalizer 3 comes in a line with the printing point of the machine; that is to say, in the sub-units position of totalizer 3.

With the exceptions above described, the mechanism may be the same as that described in the patent to A. F. Poole, No. 1,491,167, dated April 22, 1924.

By the described construction, in case the cross totalizer was not cleared at the proper time, the universal rock shaft 30 of the actuator is locked whenever roller 11 is depressed. Said roller is depressed by all of the totalizers 2 and in the sub-units position of totalizer 3. The operator therefore can not go on with the work, for he can neither print the star in said sub-units position nor can he compute a new line of numbers in the columns defined by totalizers 2. He cannot readily unlock the machine by hand, because the clearance proof mechanism is concealed behind the cover plate 42. The roller 11 is not depressed in the computing part of totalizer 3, however, and the operator is therefore free to go back into that column and correct his error in the usual way, which if he does, Will clear the cross totalizer and thus automatically unlock the machine and allow the star to be printed and the work to be proceeded with. It will be seen that no way is provided for unlockingthe machine except by clearing the cross totalizer.

The hook 38 and its controlling roller 14, etc., are necessary only because I use for clearance proof purposes the same look 19,

etc., that is used in the Remington machine for another purpose. Said hook at the one time described prevents the bar 40 from operating said lock.

The typewriting machine includes the carriage 45, the front bar of which is shown fragmentarily in Fig. 1, and said carriage carries the paper roller or platen 46. Said carriage also is connected with and partially supports the truck 47 on which the vertical totalizers are mounted. The printing mechanism includes keys, such as keys 1 and 32, and connected printing types 48 adapted to strike against the front face of the platen 46.

The adding mechanism comprises an actuator, this name being applied to the mechanism mounted on the stationary framework and operated by the numeral keys, the final elements in the train of mechanism consisting of a main master wheel 49 (Fig. 2) for the vertical totalizers and an auxiliary master wheel 52 for the cross totalizer.

Having now fully described and ascertained the nature of my invention I hereby declare that what I claim is 1. In a typewriting and computing machine, the combination with a paper carriage traveling through a series of computing zones, a series of vertical totalizers fixed to the said carriage and carried by it through said zones, a cross-footing totalizer, a plurality of number keys actuating the said totalizers, a clearance key, a key lock tripped to locking position when the last number key actuating the last of the said series of vertical totalizers has been pressed, and means for disconnecting the cross-footer from the said last vertical totalizer when leaving the computing zone, means for releasing the said lock by the said cross footer when cleared,

of means for preventing the return of the released cross footer to the position of rest during the next feed step of the carriage.

2. In a typewriting and computing machine the combination with a carriage, a

series of vertical totalizers fixed to the said carriage, a cross-footing totalizer, means for coupling the cross footer with the said vertical totalizers one after the other, number keys acting upon the said totalizers at appropriate positions of the said carriage, means for look ing the said keys, means at the last one of the said series of totalizers for actuating the said key locking means when the last totalizer has just passed the computing zone, a clearance key actuating a special clearance type bar and influenced by the said key lock, and means for releasing the coupling between the totalizers and the cross footer, of means for preventing the return of the released cross footer to its position of rest, and means at the said last totalizer to actuate the last said means when the said totalizer has just passed the computing zone.

3. The combination with means including a traveling element for printing a plurality of numbers in different column positions across a paper, a totalizer for effecting computations involving numbers so printed, a lock capable of interru iting the work of printing and computing, and controlling means for said lock depending on the clearance or non-clearance of said totalizer, of controlling means for said lock dependent on the position of said traveling element in such wise that said lock may be capable of preventing printing and computing in one of said column positions but not in another.

a. The combination with a traveling element, a cross totalizer, and an actuator for said cross totalizer whereby numbers may be registered in said cross totalizer in a plurality of column positions of said traveling element, of clearance-proof mechanism for said cross totalizer including a lock for said actuator, said lock being controlled in part by said traveling element in such wise that it may be rendered operative in one column position of said traveling element and not in another, so that in case of failure to clear said cross totalizer said actuator may be operated in said other column position to make the necessary correction.

5. The combination with a traveling element, a cross totalizcr, and an actuatorfor said cross totalizer whereby numbers may be registered in said cross totalizer in a plurality of column positions of said traveling element, of clearance proof mechanism for said cross totalizer including a lock for said actuator controlled in part by the condition of said cross totalizer as to clearance or non-clearance, a clear sign key connected into said actuator so as to be locked when the actuator is locked, and means for controlling said lock from said traveling element in such wise that said lock may be rendered operative in one column posit-ion to prevent the beginning of a new computation in case said cross totalizer is not clear and may not be rendered operative in. another column position in which column position the actuator may be operated to make the necessary corrections, and may be'rendered operative in a certain position of said traveling element designed for the operation of said clear sign key.

6, The combination with a traveling carriage, a cross totalizer, an actuator for said cross totalizer, means controlled by said carriage for defining computing zones and a balance Zone by the travel of said carriage,

and a lock for said actuator controlled in part by the condition of said cross totalizer as to clear and not clear, of a series of cam bars, one for each of said computing zones and each acting in its zone to make it possible for said lock to be operated, said balance zone being devoid of such cam bar so that in case the cross totalizer is not clear the actuator can be operated in said balance zone to make the necessary correction.

7. The combination with a traveling carriage, a cross totalizer, an actuator for said cross totalizer, means controlled by said carriage for defining computing zones and a balance zone by the travel of said carriage, and a lock for said actuator controlled in part by the condition of said cross totalizer as to clear and not clear, of a series of cam bars, one for each of said computing zones and each acting in its zone to make it possible for said lock to be operated, said balance zone being devoid of such cam bar so that in case the cross totalizer is not clear the actuator can be operated in said balance zone to make the necessary correction, a clear sign key connected into said actuator so as to be controlled by said lock, and an additional cam performing the same function as said cam bars and located in a position appropriate for the operation of said clear sign key.

8. The combination with a traveling carriage, means controlled thereby for defining computing zones and a balance zone, a jumping cross totalizer arranged to travel in unison with said carriage to the extent of one of said zones and to jump back to initial position at the end thereof, an actuator for said cross totalizer, a lock for said actuator, and means whereby said lock is controlled in part by the jump-back of said cross totalizer and in part by said traveling carriage, of clear signal mechanism including means also adapted to control said look, a clear sign key designed to be operated in sub-units position of said balance column and controlled by said lock, and means for limiting the jump-back of said cross totalizer at the end of said balance column.

9. The combination with a traveling carriage and cross footing mechanism, of clearance proof mechanism including a clear sign key, a lock 19 controlled in part by said traveling carriage, in part by the jump-back of said cross footing mechanism, and in part by said clearance proof mechanism, and a latch 38 acting at the end of one of the column positions of said carriage to prevent the complete jump-back of said cross footing mechanism.

Signed at Frankfort-on-the-Main, Germany, this 21st day of July A. D. 1926.

WALTHER FLACH. 

